Police pulled up for not filing FIR on elderly mans complaint

Pulling up police for their refusal to register an FIR on the complaint of an elderly couple,a Delhi court has asked the City Police Commissioner to file a report giving details of legal provisions which bar an officer from lodging an FIR without prior approval from his superior officers.

Pulling up police for their refusal to register an FIR on the complaint of an elderly couple,a Delhi court has asked the City Police Commissioner to file a report giving details of legal provisions which bar an officer from lodging an FIR without prior approval from his superior officers.

Ordering the registration of the FIR on the complaint of a 70-year-old man in a cheating case against a property dealer and others,the court took serious objection to a report of a police officer that though he was convinced that a case was made out,the FIR could not be lodged as an approval from the DCP concerned was awaited.

There exists no provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure which mandates or even requires the approval of any officer or the DCP before registration of the FIR. If the cognisable offence is made out and the Investigating Officer (IO) is of the opinion that an FIR ought to be registered,the police is bound to register an FIR, Metropolitan Magistrate Amitabh Rawat said.

The court also noted that in this case,it was a senior citizen who has been subjected to harassment.

The courts order came on a complaint of Uma Arora and her husband Santosh Arora,residents of East Delhi.,who said they had been running from pillar to post for one-and-a-half years to get an FIR registered.

I am of the opinion that it is a fit case for registration of an FIR. However,I am at pain to observe that a senior citizen has been subjected to harassment despite the fact that the office of the DCP,Crime Branch,has forwarded the complaint on March 17,2011 to the DCP,Northeast district. Despite the passage of more than one year,the police has not cared to register the FIR if it so warranted, the magistrate said.

The court directed that a copy of the order should be sent to the commissioner and said police should file a report detailing the provisions,if any exists,under which an FIR cannot be registered by an IO without approval from his seniors.